Skip to main content

Newsmakers for August 2018

Staff changes at Texas newspapers.

SHARON GRIGSBY
Dallas Morning News
DALLAS – Pulitzer prize-winning editorial writer Sharon Grigsby has taken on a new role as metro columnist with The Dallas Morning News.
Grigsby, an East Dallas resident who raised her family in Rockwall, said she will look for “stories that we aren’t writing right now.” 
Born in Waco, Grigsby studied journalism and political science at Baylor University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1978. She joined The News in 1980 after a brief stint with The Detroit News. During her four decades at The Dallas Morning News, Grigsby has held editor positions in national news, politics, features, religion and local news, eventually becoming city editor and then assistant managing editor for The News’ metro operation. 
In late 2004, she became deputy editorial page editor, which allowed her to write periodically while editing. She became a full-time editorial writer in 2014, effecting change on issues from stray dogs in southern Dallas to Baylor’s handling of sexual assault cases. 
For 10 years, she’s also been editor for The News’ “Bridging Dallas’ North-South Gap” project, an on-going effort that won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2010.

BELINDA WHEELER-MILLS
Amarillo Globe-News
AMARILLO – Belinda Wheeler-Mills has joined the Amarillo Globe-News as director of operations and advertising.
Originally from Muleshoe, Wheeler-Mills was serving as a group publisher in Southern California when she got the chance to return to her home state.
“My first newspaper job was as a reporter/photographer, and along the way I ended up being an editor of a weekly newspaper in Texas,” she said. “I then transitioned to sales and worked my way up through the ranks on the advertising side.”
Prior to joining the Globe-News, Wheeler-Mills spent just over two years in El Centro, California, where she was responsible for a daily newspaper, a weekly Spanish language newspaper and a women’s magazine. The four other offices she supervised produced shopping publications.  She has also worked in New Mexico, having served as a regional advertising director at the Las Cruces Sun-News. 
Publisher Robert Granfeldt said Wheeler-Mills’ diverse skills will serve the newspaper well.

MADELYN EDWARDS
Weatherford Democrat
WEATHERFORD – Arlington native Madelyn Edwards, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, has joined the Weatherford Democrat news staff.
While a student at UTA, Edwards joined the college’s newspaper, The Shorthorn, where she won the Charles LeMaistre Award for excellence in reporting, first place with the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association for a breaking news multimedia story and a mark of excellence award from the Society of Professional Journalists Region 8 for online news reporting.
Edwards also had internships at the city of Arlington’s Office of Communication and at the Fort Worth Weekly.

CHRIS EDWARDS
Tyler County Booster
WOODVILLE – Chris Edwards has returned to the Tyler County Booster as editor, replacing Valerie Reddell.
A long-time employee of Polk County Publishing Company, the Booster’s parent company, Edwards first worked for the company and the newspaper as a general assignments reporter, mostly covering the crime and county government beats, but also honing feature writing skills. 
Upon moving back to Tyler County in 2014, he landed a position writing sports and soon became the sports editor, while also handling reporter/assistant editor duties at the Groveton News, another PCPC newspaper. Edwards later became editor of the Corrigan Times and served in that role until the Times merged with PCPC flagship paper Polk County Enterprise at the end of 2017. 
His writing has appeared in all of the PCPC publications, including the company’s new quarterly magazine East Texan. Edwards worked as a general assignments reporter, occasional photographer and social media content editor at the Enterprise and in March stepped in to edit the San Jacinto News-Times, which will now be produced under Reddell’s direction from the Livingston office. 
Edwards grew up in Colmesneil and graduated Colmesneil High School. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. 
Reddell is now working out of the company’s main office in Livingston, directing content at the company’s six newspapers and multiple social media channels. With Edwards taking over editing duties at the Booster, Reddell said she would be able to supervise and work more closely with new staff members at the Livingston office. In addition, the change allows her to spend more time with her family.

SARAH EINSELEN
Gainesville Daily Register
GAINESVILLE – Sarah Einselen is the new editor and general manager of the Gainesville Daily Register.
She hails from Logansport, Indiana, where she was news editor at The Pharos-Tribune, a daily covering Logansport and Cass County. The Pharos-Tribune and the Register are owned by the same parent company, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.
Einselen spent the last six years with The Pharos-Tribune, first as business and education reporter before being promoted to news editor. She has received multiple first-place awards from the Hoosier State Press Association for her business and economic news coverage. She was known in the Logansport area for her series of columns on the process she and her Canadian husband are completing to obtain her husband’s green card.
She holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Spanish from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Before her move to Gainesville, Einselen volunteered as an English as a second language tutor with students from Cuba and Myanmar. She was also involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters as a community-based mentor and played guitar or mandolin weekly in a church praise band.

ALANA HERNANDEZ
Valley Morning Star
HARLINGEN — Port Isabel native Alana Hernandez, 22, a recent University of Texas at Austin graduate, has joined the editorial staff of the Valley Morning Star as a reporter and photographer.
During her time in college, Hernandez was involved with Texas Student Television as a writer, audio operator, graphics coordinator and social media producer for the entertainment television show, Sneak Peek. She also an editorial fellow for College Fashionista, a digital community for college-aged fashion and beauty influencers. 
Most recently, Hernandez was a news intern for CBS Austin and worked alongside news producers writing and editing news scripts for the evening shows.
“Alana will be a welcomed addition to help us as we grow our Valley Women Inspire magazine brand,” VMS Editor Lisa Seiser said. 

KRISTAL KUYKENDALL
Herald-Banner Publications
GREENVILLE – Kristal Kuykendall is the new editor at Herald-Banner Publications, where she will oversee the Herald-Banner and Commerce Journal, as well as the Royse City and Rockwall County Herald-Banner newspapers. 
Kuykendall’s journalism career began with a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund copy editing internship in Lexington, Kentucky. She has covered everything from high school and NCAA sports to the Arkansas Legislature and breaking news. She also wrote magazine cover stories about TV reality star Michelle Duggar, “Project Runway” designer Korto Momolu, renowned horse trainer D Wayne Lukas, and meat-production mogul Don Tyson. 

MORGAN HOWARD
C&S Media
WYLIE – C&S Media recently welcomed new reporter Morgan Howard to the staff. 
Howard reports on events in the city of Sachse, general education and Farmersville School Board. 
She is a 2018 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where she double-majored in English and mass communications. She is a 2014 graduate of Wylie East High School. 

MARIALUISA RINCON
Woodlands Villager
WOODLANDS – Marialuisa Rincón, 23, is a new reporter for the Woodlands Villager, where she will cover Woodlands area events and news.
She covers the city of Shenandoah, general assignment and other news about The Woodlands Township.
Rincón comes to The Woodlands after studying journalism at the University of Houston, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Daily Cougar. She began work at The Villager shortly after graduation.
While attending the university, Rincón took part in an internship with the Houston Chronicle as part of her coursework to earn credits toward her degree. In January, Rincon began freelancing with the Chronicle and Villager.
Rincón, who grew up Houston and also lived in Colombia, credits famed Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez for inspiring her to become a reporter. Two years ago, she worked at the Garcia Marquez journalism foundation in Colombia. 

MEREDITH SHAMBURGER
The Panola Watchman
CARTHAGE – Meredith Shamburger has been named editor of The Panola Watchman.
Shamburger succeeds longtime editor Becky Barlish, who recently stepped down after 13 years of service in that role.
A Carthage native, she earned her bachelor’s degree at Southern Methodist University in 2011.
Her journalism career includes writing for her college newspaper, The Daily Campus, as well as The Daily Voice, a hyperlocal, online news company based in Westchester County, New York, and The Dallas Morning News. 
Shamburger joined M. Roberts Media Company, the Watchman’s parent company, in 2016. Since then, she has worked as a reporter for the Watchman’s sister newspapers in Marshall and Longview.
She joined the Watchman staff in January as a general assignments reporter.

CARLOS SILVA JR.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
LUBBOCK – Carlos Silva Jr. has been promoted to sports editor of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
The El Paso native joined the A-J in October 2015 and has since covered Texas Tech and high school sports. He began taking on sports editing duties after the previous sports editor departed in November.
Silva has helped organize and execute the Lone Star Varsity Lineman Challenge and the Lone Star Varsity High School Sports Awards banquet. 
Silva earned a bachelor of arts degree in communication (print media) with a minor in creative writing from the University of Texas at El Paso. After college, Silva began working as an intern with the El Paso Times before moving on to the Silver City Sun-News.
He moved on to become a sports reporter for the Odessa American and then the San Angelo Standard-Times.

STELLA WIESER
Panola Watchman
CARTHAGE – Stella Wieser joined the Panola Watchman staff as a reporter covering Panola County events, writing news and feature stories and taking photographs.
Wieser joined the Watchman staff after graduating magna cum laude from Abilene Christian University with a degree in English. While at ACU, Wieser worked as a copy editor on the staff of The Optimist. Her duties included writing articles for the weekly student newspaper as well. Wieser also interned for her hometown newspaper, The Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post, last summer.